Jonathan Gubbins is the definition of a well-barreled human. Photo: Russell Ord
Every surfer’s wet dream is to get inside a tube. Or a shack, barrel, keg, the green room; maybe to get slotted, a cover up, pack one, pull in, and hopefully sneak out — the lot. The only thing you don’t want to be is a barrel dodger. As core lord John West, aka @ThatSurfGuy once said, “It’s better to pull in than pull out.”
There’s levels to it. We all get to experience a few views from inside that circular room, while others see the full spectrum. At the end of the day, all that matters is getting a glimpse of the inside of a wave, no matter how gnarly or tame it is. Here’s a few of those views from a blue tube, from inside and out.
Duck Dive
Remember that guy you saw on every “day of days” as a kid; that guy tucked deep in the tube as you paddled out, wondering how the hell he got in there? It’s probably the second coolest view in surfing, from the outside of the barrel looking in. You might toss him a shaka with a side of “sick tube” on the paddle out, but his face is humble. From his view, he wasn’t deep enough to fully get the vision. In your eyes, he was there. And that’s why the duck-dive view – we’re duck diving as he’s getting barreled – is the one we like to see the best in the magazines, because it’s the one we know.
Almost Had You
The “first” barrel most people get is not even a barrel at all. From your POV, the wall builds in front of you and the wave begins to curl overhead. You stick your hand out in the face and look up with unfettered joy. This is it, the dream. You finally got barreled. That is, until buddy in the channel, or even worse (video evidence) tells you that you weren’t even close. We’ve all been there. Not deep enough. It’s not the end of the world though, it still feels good to almost get tubed.
Shampoo
For those who don’t understand this surfism, it goes something along the lines that Makua Rothman once said while commentating a WSL event, “Drop your wallet, bend down to pick it up, and get yourself a little shampoo barrel.” A shampoo barrel is where your head barely gets under the lip of the wave — just enough to wash the shampoo out of your hair. Not that surfers use shampoo. It’s a close cousin to the head dip barrel, a hotdog maneuver where you hold tight to the lip and lean your head into the crest.
Closeout
No one is above packing a closeout. In its simplest form, pulling into a closeout is holding your line at the end of a wave as it explodes in a straight section, no longer peeling down the line. For a brief moment before the chaos, the brave surfer gets a glimpse at a mouthy, wide open tube with no end. But the real statement behind a closeout is the emotional one. Pulling into sections that will close with certainty is an expression of madness. Someone going absolutely mental, sending it into the maw. Psycho. And on the other hand, navigating a closeout with a bit of daylight at the end of the tunnel, the one tiny egress called a doggy door exit, takes balls and vision. Making it at the last possible moment, right when everything crashes down on itself like an avalanche — that is the most dramatic moment in surfing.
Glide In
Chip it, chip it real good. A glide in, or chip in, is the most user friendly barrel on the list. The take off occurs outside, usually from a whitewater glide in, and the surfer pumps with the wave until it opens up on the shallower inside section. When done correctly, all you have to do is hold the line and enjoy the view. There’s something special about a glide in tube, the anticipation of it. For a moment before the moment, you can see the beginnings of the blue orbiting lip as it pours overhead, like paint out of a bucket, drag your hand in the wave, and dial into the dream.
Deeeeeep…. Photo: YouTube//Screenshot
Backdoor
The artful stampede opposite the main peak. Backdooring a wave is an elite maneuver where the surfer takes off behind the section, so far deep on the right that it looks like they’re better positioned for the left. Instead, they tuck into the tube immediately, taking off under the heaving section. The body awareness necessary to conform to the barrel’s size and speed takes nothing short of mastery. But the immediate intimacy with the environment — the sucking air as it compresses, the deafening roar of the elements inside that tube, the racing lines of water up the face, and the refracting light from the sun — is worth every failed attempt.
And an honorable mention for the road. The “wrong way” tube, where you take off down the line the wrong way, surfing directly into the tube. Shoulder hop a left, straight into the tube that’s barreling down the right. It’s a ridiculous thing to do intentionally, but by accident the view is one you won’t soon forget.
